Terry Rozier must forfeit most of his $26 million NBA salary, arbitrator rules - NBC News

NBA free agent Terry Rozier violated his contract with the Miami Heat, an arbitrator has ruled, meaning he must forfeit most of his $26.6 million salary for the 2025-26 season in connection with his alleged role in a sprawling sports gambling scheme. The arbitrator decided in late May that Rozier, who has pleaded not guilty to the gambling scheme allegations, breached his obligations to play for the Heat, finding that the conditions of his pretrial release in the criminal case effectively rendered him in violation of the agreement, according to details included Wednesday in a motion seeking to change the release conditions. Rozier’s conditions of release prohibited him from contacting any team members of the Heat and the Charlotte Hornets, including players, coaches and medical staff members. The court also imposed travel restrictions. The arbitrator ruled this year that the Heat must pay Rozier his full salary this season after having decided that the league couldn’t put him on unpaid leave, as it did after he was indicted in the Eastern District of New York in the betting probe. However, Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, said the team “almost immediately” decided against making payments to Rozier, prompting a second round of arbitration in early April, the court filing showed. The league, along with the Heat and the Hornets, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Trusty asked in the court filing Wednesday that the conditions of Rozier’s release remove the Hornets from his no-contact list, arguing that not changing the condition could prevent him from playing in the NBA as the free agency process gets underway this month. Federal prosecutors removed Heat personnel from Rozier’s no-contact list after the team released him, Trusty said. But the government declined to do so for the Hornets. In the filing, Trusty asked the district judge presiding over the case to remove Hornets personnel from the list, adding that Rozier has no objection to being banned from discussing the case with the Hornets. “Under the current ruling of the arbitrator, an inability to play for or against the Charlotte Hornets would constitute a ‘failure to perform services’ by Mr. Rozier and substantially diminish or eliminate any chance of being contracted by an NBA team,” Trusty said in the document. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment on Rozier’s request to modify the conditions of his release. Rozier was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in October and pleaded not guilty. Last week, federal prosecutors filed additional charges, including sports bribery and honest services wire fraud conspiracy. The superseding indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, alleges that Rozier solicited and accepted a $100,000 bribe in exchange for tipping off a group of bettors about his plan to exit a March 2023 game early because of an injury while he was playing for the Hornets. Trusty said Rozier is scheduled to be arraigned next week on the new charges and will plead not guilty.